Glowing flower-shaped lights do not need electricity

In the daytime this lamp takes energy from the sun and wind. When night falls, it only emits weak light. Brightness increases when people or objects pass through the light.

Finding a lighting solution for the city at night is an eternal challenge for urban planners. Too much light will cause "light pollution" that makes urban residents unable to watch stars and upset the biological rhythm of many birds and animals. But if the city doesn't have enough light in the evening, people will feel insecure when going out.

One of the Philips Electronics lighting solutions (Netherlands) is the "flower lamp" - a light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system shaped like a flower. It automatically increases the brightness when someone walks through and reduces the brightness when away from people. The new technology not only does not depend on the city grid, but also saves energy, because the flower lamp operates with sunlight and wind.

Flower lights automatically change the position of the wings according to weather conditions.Photo: physorg.com.

During the day, flower lights open "wings" to receive light. As the sun moves, the directions of the wings also change so that they can receive maximum light (like sunflowers).

In the days when the sky is cloudy and the wind is high, the underside of the petals is swept up to catch the wind. When the petals rotate, their movements are transmitted to a rotor and turn into electricity.

Flower lights constantly change between "sun" and "wind" modes to suit the weather conditions. It displays the process of storing energy on the "trunk" with a decorative light for pedestrians to see.

When the sun goes down, the LED bulbs on the flower lights automatically turn on to illuminate the space below. Philips insists that the downside lamp will minimize the pollution of light, allowing people to see the stars in the sky. If not, the lamp will work in standby mode with dim light. When someone passes by, motion sensing devices increase the brightness of the lamp.

Philips said that the electricity consumption of flower lights is only half that of traditional street lamps but still provides the same brightness. Since flower lights do not use grid electricity, rural areas can install it without building an electrical network. In cities, flower lights can even provide electricity to the grid when the energy they store exceeds the required level. Thus, the flower lamp can become a generator, not just a device that consumes electricity.

Flower lights were exhibited at the Moscow Simplicity exhibition in Moscow (Russia) from mid-October.